Mining In The Himalayas

Himalaya, the world's most prominent mountain system of the world is a source of sustainence for the social, cultural and economic development of population across different countries. Unscientific, small-scale mining for harnessing reounrces including minerals has caused ecosystem damage. Therefore, an integrated and holistic approach to deal with the resource management is required. This book makes a focussed effort to explain how mining in the Himalaya is practiced with discussions pertaining to critiques and lacunas of mining and environmental practices. Status of mining practices in Himalaya is included along with the legal/environmental repercussions of mining.

Himalaya, the world's most prominent mountain system of the world is a source of sustainence for the social, cultural and economic development of population across different countries. Unscientific, small-scale mining for harnessing reounrces including minerals has caused ecosystem damage. Therefore, an integrated and holistic approach to deal with the resource management is required. This book makes a focussed effort to explain how mining in the Himalaya is practiced with discussions pertaining to critiques and lacunas of mining and environmental practices. Status of mining practices in Himalaya is included along with the legal/environmental repercussions of mining.

Mineral building materials and regionally related methods of processing are an essential part of building culture throughout the Himalayas. Based on transregional knowledge transfer, raw materials have been able to find an ecologically and economically optimised destiny in particular local applications. For this study, samples were collected as raw material or originated from certain building components. Samples were analysed according to their material properties and architectural application. Traditional building techniques were examined and their correlation with traceable material qualities studied. Clay-specific properties such as colour, grain size distribution, grain shape, hardness, plasticity, organic additives, or bulk and clay mineral properties were used as comparative parameters. This study gives fresh insight into the interaction between technical requirements, environmental resources and material implementation. It is the first scientific approach in studying the Himalayan earthen heritage in a wide scope and connecting material research and cultural heritage from various perspectives - in particular archaeology, architecture, research on materials and building techniques.

Our Dark Materials features stories and compelling visual documentation of black carbon, also known as soot, and its vast impacts on water security and public health on the Indian subcontinent. Since 2016, documentary photographer Ashley Crowther has followed the story of smoke and fire and its effects: from remote Himalayan mountain villages and glaciers to the harsh coal mining regions to booming Indian megacities. Through documentary photography and scientific journalism, Our Dark Materials reports on one of Asia's most pertinent and underreported environmental and social development issues of modern times.

In this book "Himalayas: A few Rocks and Minerals study" the main objective is to study physical and optical properties of Rocks and minerals in Greater Himalayas. The physical properties which are easily recognized or determined and are important in the rapid determination of minerals are lusture, colour, streak, hardness, cleavage, parting, fracture, tenacity, taste, odour, feel and touch, specific gravity, magnetism, luminescence electric properties etc. are discussed in detail with figures and structures. In order to study the general properties of Rocks and Minerals relatively simple methods have been devised for easy and rapid determination of some of the most important optical constants of solids. These methods are especially adapted to the determination of some of the optical properties of the substances that are available as crystals, in thin sections or in limited quantities as small fragments or powders. The main focus is to explain mineralogy of unknown particles in thin section. In the last section the future of the Himalayas are also discussed.Keywords: Himalayas, Mineralogy, Rocks

This book brings together a comprehensive and up-to-date presentation of the main scientific and technological aspects of limestone mining. The book discusses how to excavate limestone from surface mines including the nuances of production and commercial aspects.It addresses topical issues related with the quarrying of limestone and environmental protection measures adopted in mining and manufacturing. The chapters in this book describe planning and designing of mining processes to produce limestone that meets with market requirements and customer specifications. The book also discusses the environmental stresses caused by mining as an industrial activity and their ramifications and remedies. The book includes case studies from different geo-mining environments. The contents of this book will be useful to professionals, researchers, and policy makers alike.

This set of papers presents a description of the synthesis of hydrological problems and various environmental implications and management strategies for different highland and headwater regions of the world. Regions covered include the Himalayas, Russian mountains, Amazonia, and upland Wales.